Madison County commissioners aim to slow the flow of alcohol on the Broad River.
And they passed an ordinance 5-0 Aug. 7 with that in mind, limiting the size of drink containers allowed by outfitters — companies that assist people in getting on the river — to two liters or less. Basically, commissioners are trying to keep those floating down the river from loading up coolers full of beer and heading downstream for hours of partying. The intent of the new regulations is to allow beverages for nourishment but not for drunkenness. An exception will be made for those on the river with special needs. If a person suffers from a medical condition and needs additional beverages, they will be allowed to take more than the two-liter container.
“The issue is what goes in the cooler and the behavior afterwards,” said property owner Scott Edwards, who said those who own property on the river seek a limit on beverages allowed on the waterway.
Another river property owner, Bill Hodges, said the cussing and belligerence of some river users towards property owners wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere else. He said such incidents would end up in the paper if they happened at Ingles.
“Things don’t escalate because we just want them to move on,” he said.
One speaker said commissioners might consider requiring river vessels to have identification numbers so that anyone provoking an incident can be identified. Commissioner Tripp Strickland said he thought that was a good idea, but the board did not include it in the ordinance.
Representatives from outfitter companies say the regulations will hurt their business, with some families opting not to make the trip down the river due to limits on what they can take for nourishment. They said many law-abiding folks will be punished due to a few “bad eggs.” And they say drinking is a societal problem and that policing shouldn’t fall on the backs of outfitters, who don’t have the resources to enforce laws.

Sarah Owen, representing the Sandbar, a Broad River outfitter, asked the board to postpone any action.
“We’d like more time to reach a solution that works for everybody,” she said.
The limits on drink volume could restrict the number of beers people can take down the river, but one speaker pointed out that those on the river may just move on to stronger forms of alcohol that don’t require as much space.
Commissioner Lee Allen acknowledged that enforcement is a big issue. He said that without law enforcement on the river, it’s not easy to keep the drinking in check. There was some discussion of implementing fees to help pay for law enforcement assistance on the river, but no fees were included in the ordinance.
Commissioner Theresa Bettis recently made a trip down the river and she said she observed many people drinking and many stopped and lounging off of the river. Property owners say that people tend to stop on their land and stay, uninvited. They then sometimes act angry when told to leave.
Monday’s action followed a second round of discussion on the matter in a week.
The ordinance passed by the commissioners also requires outfitter companies to clean up the river on a weekly basis between March 1 and Oct. 31.
“Every company shall, on a weekly basis, direct its employees, in such numbers as are reasonably necessary, to remove litter from the Broad River and the Hudson River and the river banks of each river between the location in the north where U.S. Hwy. 29 crosses each river and the location in the south where Georgia Hwy. 172 crosses the Broad River,” the ordinance states.

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